Wattage question

I think there was a thread concerning this earlier, but I lost it, so here goes: Does the wattage of an amp get split into cabinets? I don't know if that makes much sense so I'll give an example.If I bought an SVT III head (450W) to power two cabs. Does each cab need to be rated at at least 450W, or does the TOTAL handling capacity of the two combined have to be at least 450W?

Yes, the wattage of an amp gets split into two cabinets. The rating is how much power the amp can produce. This number does not really change. Many people do not understand the physics, that the speakers are passive devices, and the amp drives the speakers, not the other way around.

I'll answer the question related to your specefic situation. If you have an SVT-3PRO, and you want to power two cabs, you'll need two 8 ohm cabs. One 8 ohm cab alone will recieve 275 watts, and together the 4 ohm load will recieve the 450 watts.